The "Thanks" thread!

This forum is for discussion about the Quest for Glory II remake. Hints, tips, opinions, etc.

Moderators: adeyke, VampD3, eriqchang, Angelus3K

Post Reply
Message
Author
Anonymous Game Creator 2
The Prince of Shapeir
Posts: 8887
Joined: Tue May 08, 2001 4:12 am
Location: Phobos
Contact:

The "Thanks" thread!

#1 Post by Anonymous Game Creator 2 » Mon Aug 25, 2008 6:55 pm

Okay, I was meaning to get this thread up earlier but got caught tying-up loose ends with post-release duties. Now that, I have a moment I can finally make the post!

Since I'm the one who first started this Quest for Glory II remake as a one-man show all the way back in December of 2000, I figured that I should take the initiative to say thanks to everyone else who came on-board over the past 8 years for their involvement in seeing the remake through to its final release!

Firstly, I'd like to publicly thank Stijn (Erpy) for the complete reliability and dedication he's shown to seeing this project through to completion. I think I can safely say that without him, this game simply wouldn't ever have ever been finished, and certainly not to such a high level of quality. His bug fixing speed, and skill with programming complex scenes (like combat) in AGS' programming language is something to be envied. Thanks for all the hard work!

Thanks go out to John Paul Selwood (KQArtist), Emily Selwood (Rose1), Johan Botes (Gronagor), Britney (AGD1/Milan Easton), Brandon Klassen (Relight), Anthony Hahn (Cornjob), Jack Shaedler (Jackhomer), and Michael Freeman (DrawAllDay). All the artists who touched up my crappy original 'doctored' backgrounds and turned them into works of art, rivaling the Sierra greats of yesteryear! You've all done a superb job of raising the bar and bringing this project to a new standard of visual quality.

I would also like to particularly acknowledge the additional efforts of John Paul Selwood (KqArtist) and Johan Botes (Gronagor) for going the extra mile in this particular project and working on numerous additional art and animation touch-ups, breathing much more life to the game world and characters!

Eriq, phenomenal job on the launch and website. What a blast it has been getting this thing up and running over the last month. (Not to mention the stress of yesterday's launch!) The updates, teasers, sneak peeks, and goodies were even enough to make ME excitedlyanticipate what was coming next in the courses updates, and I'm made the game! I've said it before, but you do what you do so very well and your donations to this project have brought everything to a whole new level. Great work!

Tom Lewandowski of QuestStudios shall now be congratulated for the record time in which he got all the music pulled together and recorded digitally for the project. I think that the wait until the release date must have seemed longer for Tom than for anyone else on the team, considering that he finished all of his work in a small fraction of the time it took the rest of us to complete all the jobs in our respective departments! Tom also has the special ability of being able to read my mind when it comes to creating brand new music pieces for scenes in the game where no music existing previously. (Well, either that, or we have very similar musical tastes). This man KNOWS Sierra music and the game's soundtrack is in very good hands, so thanks, Tom, for all the tunes.

Now, I will bow my head in remembrance of our long lost Moderator turned programmer, Adam Senn (Wolfgang Abenteuer). Wolfgang disappeared from these parts quite some years back, and where he went, nobody knows. But during his active time here, he assembled every dialogue from the original QFG2 SCI game and organized them into the clickable dialogue trees that you see in the remake. He also painstakingly mapped-out the entire alley system and laid-out the foundations and design for the remake. Wolfgang, if you're out there and you read this, cheers to you for your excellent efforts... and come back, y'hear!?


To Chris Jones (or Pumaman/CJ as he's more commonly known in AGS circles) thanks again for the fantastic game engine that is Adventure Game Studio. Without this magnificent tool, none of these games would even be possible in the first place. Thanks also for the constant support and assistance when things mess up (or when we're just too dumb to figure stuff out) and helping to set it all right again!

Lori and Corey Cole, you must also be given immense gratitude for writing the Quest for Glory series of games and inspiring me to want to remake Quest for Glory II in the first place. From the first time I played the original QFG2, it has been my favourite game of all-time. So, being able to remake my favourite game and actually complete this monstrous project is a huge honor. After going through the game so thoroughly and re-constructing absolutely EVERYTHING from the original version, I have seen the amount of depth that the you've put into the design and writing; how much additional detail is "beneath the surface" which many players may never even notice. I now have an even greater appreciation for your game design and plot-structuring talents. If Vivendi ever decide to throw this remake on some kind of future QFG Collection, I'll be glad to know that any increased sales will be getting you guys a share of the royalties.

The beta testers (well, the ones who actually did some testing) really did a exceptional job in weeding out many, many obscure and hard-to-find bugs and were responsible for making the game MUCH more stable than it ever could have been. Special thanks to the two testers who discovered the most bugs for their tireless efforts to keep finding more bugs when everyone else couldn't take it no more: Avoozl Snot and Prio, your extra efforts improved the game's stability greatly. Make no mistake, all the other testers listed in the credits did a most excellent job as well and were very clear and thorough in their reports. Thanks for the thorough work guys, and hopefully you're not too burnt out on QFG2 to refrain from replaying the final release!

Thanks to all the server owners who have kindly donated us space to mirror our files on. You guys and girls know who you are - and when our newsletter goes out, so will the rest of the world!

To Vivendi and Rod Rigole, thanks for allowing us to move ahead with the release of this project and for understanding the strong community spirit behind these much-loved classic Sierra games, rather than seeing things black & white and shutting the games down from the get-go. Most companies would, no question about it, and I think your actions have gained you genuine respect in this community as a result.

And last but not least, a big thank you to all the fans who (im!)patiently waited for us to get this game "out the door". It's amazing to see that, more than 10 years on, the flame is still burning strong for these classic Sierra On-Line 'Quest' titles! The community spirit and support speaks volumes about the popularity of these games and it's clear that they truly have a legacy which will never die. Just the anticipation of this release; people camping out all night for the download link (Star Wars style!); the amount of people getting incredibly antsy over the release of an old-school classic game, tapping F5 every 10 seconds because they're so eager to play it, really goes to shows how good the old Sierra games were to cause such a craving for adventure in players.

To a lot of people I think these are MORE than just games. They're intriguing stories which conjure up good memories of old times when real depth existed in games and the characters had personality. This is something that's seldom seen these days in modern titles. So I hope all the fans will continue to keep the community spirit of the Quest for Glory games (and Sierra "Quest" games in general) alive for many years to come yet. Thanks for all the support and praise you've all shown and are continuing to show after the release. It's appreciated! :)

--EDIT--

Oh, yes, and I mustn't forget to mention the sheer number of bugs pointed out by adeyke (Alexander deyke) and Relight (Brandon Klassen). They both found large amounts of bugs that made the game much more stable. And also Britney (AGD1/Milan Easton) for the extra attention put towards the excellent dialogue portraits and Relight (Brandon Klassen) for extra visual touch-ups here and there. Whew!

Erpy
Forum Administrator
Posts: 11434
Joined: Tue Sep 25, 2001 8:28 pm
Location: The Netherlands

Re: The "Thanks" thread!

#2 Post by Erpy » Mon Aug 25, 2008 7:18 pm

I can only echo what has been written here. I won't repeat what's already said, as I agree 100% with it and think it's been said very well.

I'd like to thank Sean too, who hasn't been actively involved with development of QFG2 (he never played it before), but who gave us the forums and webspace we used during the process and the mods for keeping the peace.

The only other thing I will mention and I'm sure the other members agree, is that Chris too deserves a massive thank you for being at the very heart of the project from the day the remake was conceived until the minute the site with the game went live. Chris' dedication to the project has been very inspiring indeed...not only has Chris recolored and touched up nearly every frame of animation in the game (at least close to 90% of them), but he's also responsible for plenty of complex scenes in the game and after the basic road through the game was completed, Chris has been responsible for reporting about 90% of the bugs that have been fixed over time. So, for short:

- Thanks for always getting me that massive amount of combat animations when I wanted to implement more and more zany moves.
- Thanks for implementing some of the most complex parts of the game, so I didn't have to touch them. (the ritual chamber screens, rope/levitation code and WIT come to mind)
- Thanks for never losing patience for all the times I reported a bug as fixed while there were alternative ways of triggering it that I naturally didn't notice.
- Thanks for always immediately verifying all fixes whenever a new source was uploaded. The finetuning process of the game was long, boring and tedious and without immediate feedback I surely would have lost motivation.

Credit's given when it's due and a lot of it is due in this case. So thanks. :)

Image

JohnWWells
Royal Servant Status
Posts: 107
Joined: Sun Apr 04, 2004 7:09 am

Re: The "Thanks" thread!

#3 Post by JohnWWells » Mon Aug 25, 2008 7:30 pm

This seems like an appropriate place to express my thanks. I've been waiting for this for years, and it was well worth it. Pure brilliance!

(Insert standing ovation here.)

Jack Sawyer
Royal Servant Status
Posts: 78
Joined: Mon Jun 18, 2007 7:40 pm
Location: MN

Re: The "Thanks" thread!

#4 Post by Jack Sawyer » Mon Aug 25, 2008 8:33 pm

what I wanna know is.. have you poor guys gotten sleep yet now that the release is finally out there? And if so, how long?

Anonymous Game Creator 2
The Prince of Shapeir
Posts: 8887
Joined: Tue May 08, 2001 4:12 am
Location: Phobos
Contact:

Re: The "Thanks" thread!

#5 Post by Anonymous Game Creator 2 » Mon Aug 25, 2008 8:35 pm

Sleep? What's that? You guy's aren't letting us get any with all your flattering posts and whatnot! :)

Jack Sawyer
Royal Servant Status
Posts: 78
Joined: Mon Jun 18, 2007 7:40 pm
Location: MN

Re: The "Thanks" thread!

#6 Post by Jack Sawyer » Mon Aug 25, 2008 8:40 pm

Oh wait I'm sorry.

WHERE'S THE GAM- oh wait.

:P

Edit: Okay, let me rephrase my question. How long do ya'll INTEND to sleep?

And got any little plans for celebration (or have you celebrated?) considering the fact you finally got it done?

adeyke
Moderator
Posts: 1734
Joined: Fri Aug 10, 2001 6:01 am

Re: The "Thanks" thread!

#7 Post by adeyke » Mon Aug 25, 2008 8:45 pm

I suppose I'm at least including with the beta testers. So, you're welcome :).

User avatar
Gronagor
Saurus Salesman
Posts: 3881
Joined: Tue Sep 03, 2002 3:18 pm
Location: South Africa (Bloemfontein)

Re: The "Thanks" thread!

#8 Post by Gronagor » Mon Aug 25, 2008 9:42 pm

You can all thank adeyke and Relight for the long bug-lists AGD2 always told us about! :rollin
Adeyke himself posted 200 at a time! (Man! Is he thorough!!)

Tom Lewandowski
Music Director
Posts: 1780
Joined: Tue Oct 30, 2001 5:35 pm
Location: Wisconsin USA
Contact:

Re: The "Thanks" thread!

#9 Post by Tom Lewandowski » Mon Aug 25, 2008 9:59 pm

And all along, I was thinking Chris was trying to give Duke Nukem' Forever a run for their money. Silly me...ya beat 'em by at least a decade! And now, onward to Shapeir!
Last edited by Tom Lewandowski on Tue Aug 26, 2008 12:06 am, edited 1 time in total.

DarthLogic
Peasant Status
Posts: 1
Joined: Mon Aug 25, 2008 11:10 pm
Location: Texas, USA
Contact:

Re: The "Thanks" thread!

#10 Post by DarthLogic » Mon Aug 25, 2008 11:18 pm

I was so excited to hear this was released! You guys are an amazing group of people. I am so thrilled with this game.

greensenshi
Knight Status
Posts: 218
Joined: Mon Jan 29, 2007 12:22 am

Re: The "Thanks" thread!

#11 Post by greensenshi » Tue Aug 26, 2008 12:49 am

You guys are the greatest. Eight years of sticking it out, of doing mindless, boring, meticulous task after task for a free project. Words cannot convey the gratitude I feel. I love video games with a passion. This will be something I'll remember.

Thank you, AGDI team. Thank you very, very much.

rabadi
Peasant Status
Posts: 22
Joined: Thu Jan 12, 2006 12:51 am

Re: The "Thanks" thread!

#12 Post by rabadi » Tue Aug 26, 2008 1:27 am

Many thanks and congratulations to AGDI to finally release this game. I have downloaded the game last night, but will have to wait until tonight after work to play it. Sadly it does not seem to run on Ubuntu Linux with Wine, so I will have to play it on Windows tonight.

News submitted on Abandonia forum:
http://www.abandonia.com/vbullet/showth ... post334550

kls70
Peasant Status
Posts: 1
Joined: Mon Aug 25, 2008 1:13 am

Re: The "Thanks" thread!

#13 Post by kls70 » Tue Aug 26, 2008 1:50 am

I have all the quest for glory games. I bought them separate and I even bought the anthology. Thank you guys so much. Quest for glory 2 and 4 was my favorite. I know you guys worked hard and you deserve a rest. Your work has really been apprecaited and I am glad that quest for glory series was not forgotten. It is truly unlike any game I have ever played to this date. Thank you.

Milan Easton
Ruler of the Castle
Posts: 1460
Joined: Fri May 18, 2001 12:46 am
Contact:

Re: The "Thanks" thread!

#14 Post by Milan Easton » Tue Aug 26, 2008 2:34 am

Ditto to everything Chris and Stijn wrote above. Remaking QFGII was Chris' dream for many years; he wanted to honor his favorite game of all time and pay homage to the series. Now, many people dream big and never take action to accomplish what they desire. But Chris kept this goal in mind all these years and took the steps necessary to complete a project of such immense magnitude!

CONGRATULATIONS to Chris for reaching this dream and making it a reality.

And congratulations to everyone who supported his dream--without your hard work as well, the game would never have been completed--especially at the level of quality that it's reached.

Like mentioned above, the amount of dedication that Chris and Stijn put into this project was unreal. And it was truly an honor being able to contribute my artistic talents to such a historic project, and also working along side such talented artists, Tom with his incredible musical contributions, and Eriq for his unbelievable job on the sites and promotions!!!

This has been a really memorable time, seeing this dream of Chris' come true, and thanks to EVERYONE who supported the project over the years and again, to everyone who contributed!!!!

Anonymous Game Developer #1

EZ
Peasant Status
Posts: 13
Joined: Sat Jun 28, 2008 4:17 pm

Re: The "Thanks" thread!

#15 Post by EZ » Tue Aug 26, 2008 4:26 am

The whole AGDI team has been a huge inspiration for me, and I'm sure nearly everyone who's been following this project for any length of time can say the same. Thousands upon thousands of other teams would have given up long ago -- I know I've given up on plenty of "projects" in my time and seeing QFGII completed (and with such an amazingly high quality bar) really inspires me to never let something of value die. You guys and gals did what very few other teams have the skill, talent, and dedication to. It's definitely something I will strive for in the future. Soooo... HUGE thanks. :)

Klytos
Infamous Sheik of Australia
Posts: 1722
Joined: Tue Apr 22, 2003 3:43 pm
Location: Rockhampton Australia
Contact:

Re: The "Thanks" thread!

#16 Post by Klytos » Tue Aug 26, 2008 5:05 am

Over the five or so years I've been actively involved in the remake community, one thing has always stood out to me. The absolute 110% commitment that AGDI, and in particular Chris, has to finishing what they have started. Not many people understand the pressure of leading a team of volunteers, dealing with personality conflicts, motivating people to complete their tasks because the whole game hinges on it, answering the same questions over and over and over and over and over ("Is it EVER going to be finished?" "Can you give us a release date?") and all the other hundreds of stupid little tasks that people don't think about. Then of course there's the actual work involved in creating the game, the little things like where ego enters and leaves a room, actually assigning the points to the game, moving ego the single pixel to the left so the animation runs smoothly, or trying to figure out why a particular bug only occurs every 72nd attempt.

It's not an easy task to remake a game. In some respects it's just as hard as creating a new one from scratch. You have to plot out every plot point, every option to do things differently, every single alternate solution to a puzzle. Every line of dialog and narrator speech.

So in saying all that, although I've only been involved in one where as you guys now have three (and another couple in production ??? :) ), I have some knowledge of what it takes to release a remake. And that knowledge gives me a greater appreciation of what you guys have accomplished and it increases my respect for you all.

When the naysayers come out and start bagging you, as they certainly will, just remember that you've done something they probably haven't. You've done it well, and you've done it for free. So give them a big "fuck you" and get back into the head-space of a job well done.

AGDI have really set the benchmark over the last (almost) decade for all things "remake" and I think it's worth adding my congratulations and on behalf of your friends / rivals over at Infamous Adventures, a big well done! Excellent job! Chris, Stjin, Britney, Eriq, Johan and everyone else, you're brilliant! Well done!

Congratulations on finishing not just another remake, but the single most complicated parser game Sierra made!

~ Shawn Mills
Co-Founder Infamous Adventures

(No, I don't usually sign off formally like that, but there's a lot of noob's around here at the moment... :) )

arganite
Royal Servant Status
Posts: 122
Joined: Thu Nov 25, 2004 9:11 am

Re: The "Thanks" thread!

#17 Post by arganite » Tue Aug 26, 2008 5:37 am

Thank you to everyone who was involved in any way with the project. It is a piece of art that shall long be treasured :)

Charles
Peasant Status
Posts: 9
Joined: Mon Aug 04, 2008 8:42 pm

Re: The "Thanks" thread!

#18 Post by Charles » Tue Aug 26, 2008 6:33 am

Congratulations on seeing your dream to completion. Quest for Glory II was always my favourite in the series as well (well, alternatingly tied with Shadows of Darkness, depending on the day), and I've been looking forward to your remake as a kind of "Director's Cut" of Trial By Fire. Now, I'm eagerly awaiting the free time to play through it ;) Any excuse to experience QFG2 through fresh eyes, again.

Congratulations, again.

Spanky
Royal Servant Status
Posts: 55
Joined: Fri Aug 08, 2008 6:35 pm

Re: The "Thanks" thread!

#19 Post by Spanky » Tue Aug 26, 2008 8:00 am

I gotta say it. The game really exceeded all my expectations. The game offers so much more than the original, but it still retains the same feel. I doubt sierra could have ever made a better vga remake than this. Sure, there are a few bugs here and there, but none of them are fatal. And I'm sure you'll be releasing patches anyway.
Congrats to all involved for a perfect game!

Gvinbleid
Peasant Status
Posts: 1
Joined: Wed May 14, 2008 10:13 am
Location: St.-Petersburg, Russia
Contact:

Re: The "Thanks" thread!

#20 Post by Gvinbleid » Tue Aug 26, 2008 8:41 am

I want to post my thanks here too...
I've managed to play only for half an hour yet... Project's deadline at work is approaching that leaves little free time :)

The first impression is -- really great job, guys! The final result is absolutely worth all these years of waitng (and your hard work :) )

So I want to thank AGD Interactive along with all the other guys, mentioned in this thread, for giving us such a wonderful opportunity to replay one of the best games in QFG series in point-n-click.
I'm proud QFG series has such fans that were able to do such a great deed :)

So, for the last time, THANKS to all of you!

*went to see if Al Emmo could be shipped to Russia*

User avatar
Angelus3K
Vampiric Moderator
Posts: 3968
Joined: Wed Feb 05, 2003 6:54 am
Location: Newcastle, UK
Contact:

Re: The "Thanks" thread!

#21 Post by Angelus3K » Tue Aug 26, 2008 10:37 am

I'd just like to also take this oppertunity to say thanks to the rest of the team, your work is truly inspiring and you each are really amazing people not just amazingly talented folk.

I'd also like to thank the team for creating this community and for all the friends we've all made as a result of it!

To AGDI!!!!!!!!

Daniel06
Peasant Status
Posts: 15
Joined: Tue Apr 11, 2006 5:46 am
Location: Australia

Re: The "Thanks" thread!

#22 Post by Daniel06 » Tue Aug 26, 2008 12:44 pm

I think I must have found this site about a week after you opened it!!! Ive had about 4 or 5 different computers since then, but always remembered to bookmark this page. In 2004 when you said it was coming out, I got all excited and then nearly gave up on it a year later :(

Ironically, its release has come at a great time for me - Im currently stuck in London with almost no money, waiting until October 6 when I fly back home to Australia!!! (A few unexpected expenses cut short my working holiday, and has left me not being able to do anything that costs any money until I go home).

Thanks so much, this is possibly my all time second favourite game (So you want to be a hero is my favourite, although thats based on on my memories playing it as a kid with my mate than on the game itself). Love the work guys, keep it up. It was definitely worth the wait.

techie775
Knight Status
Posts: 193
Joined: Sat May 01, 2004 4:17 pm

Re: The "Thanks" thread!

#23 Post by techie775 » Tue Aug 26, 2008 1:56 pm

well I thought I said it before but might gotten lost with my other comments. Thanks again for another awesome game that I'll end up spending a lot of hours playing. I hope your time and effort helped gain experience to further your careers in the future. You've made a bunch of peoples dreams come true with your 3 remakes!

Schloss Ritter
Knight Status
Posts: 347
Joined: Wed Apr 03, 2002 11:07 pm

Re: The "Thanks" thread!

#24 Post by Schloss Ritter » Tue Aug 26, 2008 4:13 pm

Big thanks to everyone involved. And thanks to the other fans who have been supportive of the crew all this time. :)

eriqchang
PR Director & Artist
Posts: 809
Joined: Mon May 24, 2004 8:00 am
Contact:

Re: The "Thanks" thread!

#25 Post by eriqchang » Tue Aug 26, 2008 4:15 pm

I would like to thank the usual suspects - Chris and Brit. Love you to pieces. It's amazing to watch this... thing... grow into a whole new "Sierra" yes? I imagine there are many more stories and adventures to be told. Sean, the family man, thank you for working all of our requests into your busy busy schedule. And to Stijn, for not "hovering" over me as I finished the website and poster AND for continuing to work with, much less speak to me after I branded him an evil heartless witch. (or warlock, whichever.) I will never quite understand you. But that doesn't mean that I don't admire you as much as I did four years ago.. from day one. A brilliant group of developers.

And to my friend Darin Hanson for inspiring me to make horribly cheesy YouTube videos, to Brandon Klassen (Relight) for being the ultimate media whore, archivist, and partner in design, and, of course, to EVERYONE who supported us throughout this promotion. You will never understand the love and energy you all provided when I was nearly on the brink of throwing in the towel. This entire launch was a memorable one.

And now I must download Quest for Glory II and play it in about a month when I finally have free time. The screenshots look delicious! ;)

- eriq

Post Reply